On the whole we accept security cameras, closed circuit TV, even phone and internet keyword monitoring by Governments, as a necessary measure. It’s a compromise between our privacy and our safety. But what happens when our privacy is breached for marketing purposes?

It’s reported that some retailers are releasing bionic mannequins in store that are inbuilt with the same technology that’s used to identify criminals at airports. Facial recognition software logs the age, gender, and race of shoppers, feeding into sales and marketing decisions. These inanimate, innocuous-looking mannequins are not so innocuous after all.

In fact, they’re spying on you.

Raising massive issues around what constitutes a breach of one’s privacy – not to mention trust issues between shoppers and the brands using the technology – it’s a different type of Big Brother system Orwell didn’t anticipate.